Category Archives: Lineage 2

I almost skipped this month’s challenge from Ambermist of Tastes Like Battlechicken. The challenge of this month is basically telling about someone (or several someones!) who did something good that left some kind of mark on you.

What makes this tough isn’t so much the lack of good acts I’ve seem while playing games (or even outside it) as much as thinking of one that could be turned into an interesting narrative. Even the one I am just picking now might not fit quite well with the challenge. It is one of those that got etched into my mind and perhaps might be an interesting story to tell. Even then this post might be a bit scattered all over the place as there are a lot of different emotions attached with this memory. Well, with all my memories of those times actually. Anyhoo, let’s get to the story.

It all happened back in the old days of Lineage 2, when things were harsher, death was much more of a big deal at all levels and so on. I was just minding my own business as always when suddenly one of our clan mates said that he was just PKed by someone outside the gates of Dion. When I got there, my clan leader and a couple other members were already there. Apparently the PKer was some permared who had just gotten to one of the safe borders in Dion, thus standing in a non-PvP area.

They were already arguing about it with the PKer justifying her actions along the lines that it was “just for fun, nothing personal”. To which my clan leader replied “It is personal to me.” then proceeded to challenge the PKer for a one-on-one duel. I don’t know how the duel ended as they just ran away from town while fighting each other, all I know is they settled the dispute.

All that by itself isn’t that much of a big deal. It happens all the time in Lineage 2 even to this day. What stuck to my mind though were those words spoken by my clan leader “It is personal to me”. There were just a lot implicit things behind those words. That she would stand by us, no matter what. That our problems were her problems. That if we ever attacked that she would always come to our defense or, at a worst case scenario, to avenge us.

Again, perhaps that may not be a big deal, just something natural for a guild leader to do. In fact I was even fortunate to find some great people later on, in Everquest 2, who had that kind of attitude (you know how you are. ;) ). But at that time, at that particular moment with all the tension going on because of the PKing, it really stuck to me.

I’d like to say that since then I’ve tried to live up to those words. Unfortunately I can’t say I did. I am still too egoistical, too much of a lone wolf, too impatient with other people, too bitter, too disillusioned. The best I was able to achieve was trying to do the same for the few people who were very very kind as well as patient to not let that side of me to turn them away. The gods know I keep giving them plenty of reasons for that. So when they go through difficulties it is not simply their problem. It is something I will try to stand by their side, to give any support I can. Because it is personal to me.

Or so I usually say. In practice there is always a character I end up playing more than the others or who earned a special place in my heart.

So, on this week’s challenge, posed by the lovely Ambermist of “Tastes Like Battle Chicken”, it is exactly to talk about those characters. Which I will do with the utmost joy. Because characters are like our own children. Give us an excuse to talk about them and we’ll do it all day!

In my case it will be two of the characters that have a very special place in my heart. They are probably the ones I spent the most time playing on and growing with during my MMORPG career. If you can call playing MMORPGs for years a career that is.

Also, I apologize for the lack of screenshots. This is a post that screams “Fill me up with screenshots!” but I found out I have no good screenshots of Rakuno to post. Alas, I find myself still having to do my little EQ2 protest so I can’t even log in to take a decent screenshot of my beloved character.

Yesterday morning I finally reached my ultimate goal with Lineage 2 which was to get GoldheartXVI to level 86. With that she graduated from being a mentee and I can finally go back to playing in a much more casual fashion. Not only that but I can finally play other games or characters without feeling guilty that I am not getting XP with her. Hopefully this means somewhat more regular posts on this blog as well as more variety. We’ll see!

It took me this long to get to 86 due to a few problems. The first day after 85 I spent soloing, trying to get to know my new skills, to get used to them. The second and third days is where things start going wrong. The best options to get XP were doing a daily quest in Swamplands which doesn’t give that much…. I think it is about 3% XP for completing it. Then there is Kartia that comes in solo and group version. The solo version I found nearly impossible to finish since the last boss hits hard and has a mass fear…. that works even on the NPCs that are supposed to help you! To this day I have yet to finish it. But I know there are a few players out there who can finish it.

The group version there were some complications too. I spent about an hour each day shouting for a group. Only got one in the second day and the group disbanded when we wiped in the last boss. I tried Nursery solo too but that didn’t work well. I died a lot and the only XP I got there was from killing the mobs. The quest only gave me some tokens that I could turn in for recipes and gear I already had. So after all that frustration I got desperate. I decided to go to Altar of Evil to grind. This was painful, slow and not something I would recommend to anyone unless they absolutely don’t have any other choice. Days later, with 70% more and without any resemblance of sanity or intelligence left, I decided to try getting a Kartia group on a whim…. And it worked! The party did pretty well, I got about 14% XP out of it plus some much needed ego boost. The next day I tried again with similar success which finally earned me level 86. It came at the right time too since I wanted to dedicate my weekend to Guild Wars 2 which I did without any feelings of guilty or remorse. :)

For now my plans with Lineage 2 is creating a new character that will become an Iss Enchanter on the second account. Then use GoldheartXVI as her mentor. Besides that…. time will tell what will happen in Lineage 2. :)

Yesterday, I finally got to 85 and did the 4th class change, thus awakening to become a Tyrr Warrior! Before babbling further, a big thank you to Grifix and Daikazoku for the powerleveling. Daikazoku was also kind enough to gift me with the Immortal Heavy armor set that you can see in the screenshot. I am not much a fan of its looks on a female dwarf but it is R grade armor and it does its job. Oh, and also another thank you to Stickles for all the buffs!

The 4th class change quest was much easier than I expected but didn’t feel any less epic. I don’t know if it was because I was looking forward to it for so long or if it was because of the opening scene of the quest where they showed why they needed adventures to step up and save the world. The scene was narrated by a NPC with a pretty good voice actor. That just added to the epicness of it all.

As for the class itself it is a bit weird. It feels like it is a mixture of Tyrant, Destroyer, Warlord and Gladiator. It pretty much doesn’t have anything of the Maestro so it feels kinda alien to me. Specially because a Maestro was a pretty simple class to play. I just had to use my couple buffs, forget it for 20 minutes, then use about 2 skills and send my golem to attack. Tyrr Warriors on the other hand feels more like complex creatures. They have a lot of more situational self buffs that last 5 minutes, they have skills that build Momentum which is kind of a resource to boost up the power of other skills, some skills for AoE and it seems to have some combos between skills. And I am not even getting at things like Berserker Rage that gives a huge boost to your attack and requires you to be below 30% health to be activated. The differences are so staggering that it will take me a while to feel comfortable playing it.

For now I am more worried about getting to level 86 so I can graduate from being a mentee and I can go back to being fickle and feeding my altitis needs.

Last night I got to level 83 and finally got this transformation skill for Maestros. I am only sad that the recast time is a bit long and the transformation doesn’t last forever. Still pretty fun for the few minutes it lasts!

EDIT: Just to make it clear, Miaren, the dark elf in the screenshot, is only there to give an idea of scale. The giant golem is actually my main character, GoldheartXVI, using the skill “Golem Armor” that transforms her into one. :)

If getting to level 75 back in my days felt like a possible dream then getting to 3rd class felt pretty much like one of those impossible ones. It would be like winning in the lotto. Sure, there is a very small possibility of winning it but how many really expect to actually win it? Getting your 3rd class felt pretty much like that.

As with most things currently in Lineage 2 it is a lot more accessible. The hardest part is still doing the grind to get to level 76. Once you get those the class change wasn’t too hard. It was still an interesting quest, a bit crazy by the end of it but fun. My only disappointment was not getting any new active skills right away. I only got a couple passive new skills and some to raise the number of buffs I can receive. New active ones I only started to get at level 77 which I got today.

Also, I finally got a mentor. It took me this long to get one for a few reasons. First, being a returnee player with a character above level 40 I couldn’t claim the Mentee Certificate that allowed me to have a mentor. So I had to make a disposable alt just for that purpose. I was also going to wait for a clan mate to get to 86 so I could have him as my mentor as I prefer not to deal with complete strangers if it can be avoided. That last part didn’t go exactly as planned…. Once I got my certificate I started receiving random PMs from people offering to be my mentor. After declining 3 such people I gave in to the 4th one and became his mentee. I also admit that seeing my clan mates with their mentors leveling pretty fast influenced this decision too.

As much as I hate to admit it, the mentor buffs make a lot of difference to level. Heck, they can even be kind of addicting make you not want to level while your mentor is offline and thus leaving you without the buffs. In any case it is quite worth it and I am glad I decided to get a mentor now.

Now the plan is to get to 86, become a Tyrr Warrior and graduate from the mentor. This will be a lot harder but also a lot more exciting. I can’t wait to see all the stuff I can do as a Tyrr Warrior! :D

A long time ago, when I first started in Lineage 2 the level cap was 75. To reach that you had to go up through a very steep leveling curve, almost like a mountain. At times it seemed impossible to reach that level while others it just didn’t seem to matter because it wasn’t like the game was going to fundamentally change if you got to the cap. Yes, there was the whole subclass thing that you could only start at level 75 and it looked cool. But it still wouldn’t magically transform the whole game into something else.

Anyway, for guys like me, the whole point of the game was to climb that mountain. It didn’t matter so much getting there as being able to continually advance through the levels. Even as leveling up became increasingly slow to do so we still kept at it. The level cap of 75 would always be there, always challenging us to reach it and if any of us did it would be an achievement in itself.

Then after I left many updates came making the leveling curve less and less steep. To the point now, with the Goddess of Destruction update, where there are several shortcuts one can take to reach the higher levels. We have the mentoring system now, XP runes, vitality, etc. Save for a couple couple revita-pops I’ve used recently to keep my vitality from going to 0 and using the free gear and shots from the “Path of Awakening”, I haven’t yet taken those shortcuts. Even then I am surprised as how fast I have been leveling. Is it so fast that you can sleep through the levels and find yourself at the cap? No. But it isn’t as slow that watching paint dry starts to feel more fun either. At least on the levels I had personal experience so far.

GoldheartXVI is level 71 now. The former mythical level 75 feels just close enough for me to finally grab it. It is not the level cap anymore either, it is just another step towards a much bigger goal. Yet it still feels strange in a way.

I guess the only thing that hasn’t really changed that much was my attitude. I am still playing just to climb the mountain. My goal however is not that of level cap anymore. It is a much more humble one, of just hitting 86, to turn GoldheartXVI into a Tyrr Warrior. If I can reach that I can leave the game satisfied, knowing that I reached the goal I set to myself. That I finally climbed the mountain that was in front of me.